Shopping local is easy when art markets offer everything from rugs to jewelry handmade by your neighbors. Here are some of this season's offerings.
Eureka Springs Art Bazaar
When/where: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday
Location: Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center, Eureka Springs
Admission price: $3 or two nonperishable food items
The market's been around: Roughly 10 years
What sets it apart: The event is a fundraiser for Flint Street Food Pantry
Last year we made: $1,000 and donated 450 cans of food to the local food pantry
Fun promotions: Door prizes on the hour, entertainment, a supervised children's area and a make-your-own wrapping paper station
Number of artists selling their wares: 35, including Zeek Taylor and jeweler Kate Baer
Types of art available: Jewelry, sculptures, stained glass, paintings, pottery, mixed media pieces (like some that are a combination of driftwood and stained glass)
Most unique or offbeat items: Animal portraiture, miniature pottery pots and bowls (made when thrown on a tiny kiln and shaped with a toothpick), pop culture shrines, handmade clothes made from repurposed sweaters, airplants in toy robots and steampunk clothing.
Gift price range: Starting at $5, extending into the $100s
Biggest sellers: Jewelry, pottery and woodwork
"There was a time when [the show grew], but it's better being a smaller show like it is," says Kate Baer, jewelry artisan and organizer of the Eureka Springs Art Bazaar. The visitor can see each artist's work individually, pieces "that are hand selected. By keeping it small, we can keep it local, all handmade.
"Really everything shown is popular, that's why they come back every year. [Our artists] are well received."
Community Creative Center Holiday Gift Market
When: One hour before Walton Arts Center showtime and a half hour following, from now through Dec. 23
Location: Joy Pratt Markham Gallery, Fayetteville
Admission price: The cost of the WAC show you've selected. Playing from now until then are "Annie," "Michael McDonald: This Christmas," "Pat Martino Trio," "The Snowman: A Family Concert," "The National Circus and Acrobats of the People's Republic of China," "Jim Brickman Comfort & Joy," "Christmas with SONOS Handbell Ensemble," "Home Free: Full Cheer," and "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical."
The market's been around: For a few years now
What sets it apart: Instead of choosing between holiday entertainment and Christmas shopping, theatergoers can do both in one fell swoop
Fun promotion: A "meet the artist" reception will take place Saturday
Most unique or offbeat items: Dragonfly pins and lamps whose shades are made out of Japanese paper and decorated with Sumi ink
Amount of artists selling their wares: A number of Northwest Arkansas' most talented artists, including Debbie Wieland, Gary Bastoky and Leanna Fischer.
Types of art available: Jewelry, pottery, paper lamps, among many others.
We expect: 24,000 people to attend the shows and gift market this holiday season
"Everything is handmade, hand-forged," says Debbie Wieland, who will bring 100 items to the show, a variety of jewelry (particularly bracelets, earrings, necklaces, rings and pins) from copper and decorated with semi-precious stones, freshwater pearls, glass and beads. The beauty of the local market, she says, is knowing where your Christmas gift or new treasure came from. "They're made in my own home.
"They're a lot of work, but in the end, every part is worth it."
Gary Bastoky will show two dozen lamps made of Japanese print paper with designs inlaid on top of watercolor painting, Sumi ink, acrylic and photographs taken during his travels to Rome, Florence, India, Nashville and his life on the West Coast.
"I call them my entropy series," Bastoky says. These images "are architecture, parts of buildings that are going back to nature. They've either not been taken care of or are very old.
"People just don't look at [the rundown areas of town] ... but if you take parts of them and crop it in your mind's eye, there's a lot of beauty in that. Don't just look ... imagine there's other things beyond."
The Holiday Art Sale
When: Opening reception 7-9 p.m. Dec. 4; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 5 and noon-4 p.m. on the final day, Dec. 6
Location: Studio 545, 545 West Center St., Fayetteville
Admission price: Free
The market's been around: 15 years
What's new: The location, set in an architecture office with gorgeous natural lighting and a beautiful space
What sets it apart: It offers free food to guests each day, made by the artists themselves
Fun promotion: We're operating in conjunction with The Craft Addicts market at B Enterprises; we'll be sharing parking that weekend. Their crafts are interesting, unusual and totally different from ours
Number of artists selling their wares: A dozen
Types of art available: Encaustics, woven rugs, textiles, vintage-inspired handbags, prints, jewelry, leather goods, photography, woodwork, functional pottery, cards, notebooks and more.
Gift price range: Starting at $5 up to typically $100 with most in mid-range. Some higher-end items are $1,200.
Most unique or offbeat items: Greg Mitchell's tables made with reclaimed wood -- tree branches and various things he finds; Faye Alter's handbags with new designs and different fabrics; and Alice Mayo McKee's baby cowboy boots.
Debra DuBois began weaving rugs eight years ago and now belongs to two guilds in New Mexico and one in Northwest Arkansas. "I make rugs all year long," she says. "I do it all year ... I started out spinning yarn and knitting at first, but then it turned into weaving."
Now, with looms spread out all over her house, DuBois is able to make a variety of rugs -- both practical and decorative -- at her pace. At this year's show, she'll bring 30.
"All those years, you don't think you're creative, then all of a sudden, you make something and people really like it," DuBois says. The work, too, is handy. "It's meditative."
When she retires from her massage therapy work in March, DuBois plans to weave full time.
The Little Craft Show
When: Dec. 4 (3-9 p.m.) and Dec. 5 (9 a.m.-5 p.m.)
Location: Fayetteville Town Center
Admission price: General admission (Saturday) free, LCS Friends (early admission Friday, 5-9 p.m.) $15, VIP tickets are $95, come with a swag bag of goodies, two hours of crowd-free shopping (3-5 p.m. Friday), champagne and dinner
The market's been around: 5 years
New this year: 5 workshops, each an hour long, will be given by a handful of our makers on topics of selting (one to make ornaments, one to make broaches), caligraphy, sign painting and stamp carving
What makes it unique: Jonathan and Amber Perrodin curate the show down to the last detail
Number of artists selling their wares: 90, which includes some food vendors, such as Ozark Beer, Onyx Coffee, Pure Joy Ice Cream, Fork and Crust
Fun promotion: We have 50 gift boxes to the first general admission folks who come through the doors on Friday that have all kinds of goodies, like a welcome sign for Christmas and chocolate from Hello Cocoa
We made: A limited edition tote bag with The Little Craft Show emblem sewn on it. They'll be available for $20
What's fun is "that every vendor we have has such a following of their own that they come to see their own person and everything else is a huge bonus," says co-founder Amber Perrodin.
Holiday Art Market
When: Throughout December. An open house will take place 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 5
Location: White Lotus Salon & Massage in Fayetteville
Admission price: Free
The market's been around: 10 years
What makes it unique: The art gallery, which has displays year round, has been a part of the salon since it opened
Number of artists selling their wares: F. Lee Green, Karl Killian, E.D. Laningham, Jacque Morris, Samuel, Red Star and Linda Scogin.
Types of art available: Pottery, jewelry, hand-folded paper cranes, paintings and fabric
Gift price range: Starting at $3. Higher-end paintings sell for $1,000.
"I love art ... and I saw an opportunity to promote art," says Patricia Kulish, owner of White Lotus. "It's a way to make [the spa] experience more enjoyable.
"We don't judge or edit the art. This is such a creative town and people are drawn to it. It's fascinating to see how people respond."
-- April Robertson
NAN What's Up on 11/27/2015